Explosive emission phenomenon and portable X-ray tubes

A review of recent data on the mechanism of explosive electron emission is presented. Major characteristics of the explosive emission are considered: conditions of emission excitation, kinetic characteristics of the process, data on the state of the surface. It is evident now that the explosive emission process is directly connected to the field emission from nanoprotrusions on the cathode surface. Special attention is paid to the generation of nanometer scale capillary waves during the process of initiation and sustaining of the explosive emission. The other part of the presented work is devoted to the applications based on the explosive electron emission process. Development of principally new portable X-ray devices for micro- and nanoelectronics technological applications is considered.